The Phillies introduced Wednesday that they’ve acquired righty Nolan Hoffman from the Rangers in trade for money. Hoffman was not on the 40-man roster with Texas however has been chosen to Philadelphia’s 40-man roster and optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He gained’t instantly be a part of the Phillies’ bullpen, however the on the spot addition to the 40-man clearly places him in place to doubtlessly make his main league debut within the close to future.
Hoffman, 27, was initially a fifth-round decide by the 2018 Mariners and landed with the Orioles by the use of the minor league part of the 2021 Rule 5 Draft. He turned a minor league free agent following the 2024 season, signed a minor league cope with the Rangers and is now on the doorstep of an enormous league alternative in Philadelphia.
The submarining Hoffman brings an unusual arm slot to the Phillies’ bullpen combine, however he’s had a tough stretch with the Rangers’ Triple-A membership in 2025. He’s punched out 29% of his opponents in 35 innings, however Hoffman additionally has a bloated 13.2% stroll price that has contributed to an unsightly 5.91 earned run common. He’s been stricken by a .321 common on balls in play regardless of terrible batted-ball metrics from his opponents — 85.7 mph common exit velocity, 28.2% hard-hit price — in addition to a 66.8% strand price that’s nicely shy of his typical ranges.
Previous to this season, Hoffman loved good stretches in Double-A and Triple-A with the O’s group. His 2023 marketing campaign noticed the righty reap the benefits of his misleading arm slot within the type of a 3.05 ERA over 44 1/3 innings between Baltimore’s prime two minor league associates. He adopted that with a 3.88 ERA and what was then a career-best 28.2% strikeout price in 58 Triple-A frames in 2024.
Hoffman has frequently generated grounders at enormous charges, although this 12 months’s 44.6% mark is simply a pair proportion factors north of the MLB common. That’s maybe partially to some tweaks made by the Rangers’ improvement employees. He’s nonetheless throwing his sinker greater than half the time, and Hoffman has even upped the typical velocity on that pitch from 91.9 to 93.3 mph. He’s additionally begun to include a brand new (however nonetheless seldom-used) cutter and scaled again his utilization of his curveball and changeup. Clearly, Hoffman isn’t going to step in and treatment all of the Phillies’ bullpen woes, however he provides them another choice to judge within the weeks main as much as a commerce deadline that figures to see Philadelphia president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski once more focus closely on upgrading his aid corps.
